Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3980) to provide for identifying and eliminating redundant reporting requirements and developing meaningful performance metrics for homeland security preparedness grants, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill and yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, Congress instructed FEMA in the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 and in the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 to develop performance metrics for its homeland security grants programs. As the House Committee on Homeland Security discovered in our October 27 subcommittee hearing I held with my ranking member hearing on emergency communications, these requirements remain poorly implemented and difficult to comprehend. What is most disconcerting is that FEMA still cannot determine our Nation's overall preparedness or how homeland security grants have helped to protect our Nation from acts of terrorism.

It is for these reasons that I come to you today to ask for your support of H.R. 3980, the Redundancy Elimination and Enhancement Performance for Preparedness Grants Act. This legislation would require FEMA to work in conjunction with State, local, tribal and territorial stakeholders to develop a plan to do the following things:

Streamline homeland security grant reporting requirements, rules and regulations to eliminate redundant reporting;

Create a strategy including a timetable for establishing the much- needed performance metrics for grant programs to ensure that the funds are being directed to the areas where they will be best spent;

Require FEMA to take an inventory of each of the homeland security grant programs to include the purpose, objectives and performance goals for each.

The plan will be submitted to the appropriate congressional committees no later than 120 days after the bill's enactment.

It will be updated biannually to ensure that the committee is able to maintain a watchful eye and the oversight on redundancies in the law that might confuse the grant recipients at the local level.

This bill will help identify inefficiencies with the DHS grants programs and this bill will increase the quality of service received by DHS grant recipients.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation.

House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure,

Washington, DC, December 1, 2009.

Hon. Bennie G. Thompson,

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Thompson: I write to you regarding H.R. 3980,

the ``Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for

Preparedness Grants Act''.

H.R. 3980 contains provisions that fall within the

jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure. I recognize and appreciate your desire to

bring this legislation before the House in an expeditious

manner and, accordingly, I will not seek a sequential

referral of the bill. However, I agree to waive consideration

of this bill with the mutual understanding that my decision

to forgo a sequential referral of the bill does not waive,

reduce, or otherwise affect the jurisdiction of the Committee

on Transportation and Infrastructure over H.R. 3980.

Further, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

reserves the right to seek the appointment of conferees

during any House-Senate conference convened on this

legislation on provisions of the bill that are within the

Committee's jurisdiction. I ask for your commitment to

support any request by the Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure for the appointment of conferees on H.R. 3980

or similar legislation.

Please place a copy of this letter and your response

acknowledging the Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure's jurisdictional interest in the Committee

Report on H.R. 3980 and in the Congressional Record

consideration of the measure in the House.

I look forward to working with you as we prepare to pass

this important legislation.

Sincerely,

James L. Oberstar,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as you heard, this is commonsense legislation that will streamline FEMA's efforts to enhance our Nation's preparedness and response capacity. All we're trying to do is to make sure that we get rid of any unnecessary rules and regulations that cause our local folks problems. Number two, we're also trying to make sure that we measure the results. If we're going to spend billions of dollars on grants, we've just got to make sure that we measure those particular results.

The bottom line is, Mr. Speaker, we're trying to focus on the customers, and the customers are the recipients of these grants. I certainly want to thank our ranking member, Mr. Rogers. He's done an outstanding job there in the committee. I look forward to working with him not only on this legislation to make it law but certainly on other pieces of legislation. I urge all my colleagues to vote ``aye.''

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, in accordance with the Budget Enforcement Resolution, I submit those changes in law resulting from legislation approved or filed by the Committee on Homeland Security that will help achieve deficit reduction by enhancing efficiency, accountability and oversight, while eliminating waste, abuse, mismanagement, and fraud in Government programs within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Homeland Security.

Below are measures within the Committee's jurisdiction that have, to date, been approved by the House during this Congress and reflect the Committee's efforts to promote efficiency, government reform and result in budgetary savings:

H.R. 553, the Reducing Over-Classification Act, which creates a standard for formatting finished intelligence and eliminates redundant classification efforts.

H.R. 2200, the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act, which streamlines management at TSA, requires risk-based allocation of resources, and promotes operational efficiency.

H.R. 4842, the Homeland Security Science and Technology Authorization Act of 2010, which establishes new internal controls, more robust standards, and reforms for all of the research and development conducted by both the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.

H.R. 3978, the First Responder Anti-Terrorism Training Resources Act, which allows the Department of Homeland Security to accept gifts for its first responder training centers, thereby alleviating need for the Department to purchase certain equipment or material.

H.R. 3980, the Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act, which requires the identification of redundant rules and regulations and a plan to eliminate redundant reports and regulations.

H.R. 1148, a bill to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct a program in the maritime environment for the mobile biometric identification of suspected individuals, including terrorists, to enhance border security, which promotes government efficiency by streamlining processing, prosecution, and deportation of suspected individuals.

H.R. 2868, the Chemical and Water Security Act of 2009, which controls spending by requiring that grants be awarded on a merit and risk based basis, streamlines the regulatory requirements for securing chemical and water treatment facilities and, by enhancing the security of such facilities, mitigates against the potentially astronomical costs associated with the response to and recovery from a successful terrorist attack on such a facility.

H.R. 1617, the Department of Homeland Security Component Privacy Officer Act of 2009, which establishes a privacy officer in each Department of Homeland Security component, thus enhancing efficiency by reducing the potential for the production of regulations or guidelines that are subject to challenge under privacy laws.

H.R. 4748, the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act of 2010, which enhances the efficiency of governmental efforts to prevent the illegal trafficking of drugs across the northern border by requiring a strategy stating the specific roles and responsibilities of relevant agencies.

H.R. 1178, a bill to direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on the use of Civil Air Patrol personnel and resources to support homeland security missions, and for other purposes, which requires a report to Congress focusing on the feasibility and cost effectiveness of using the Civil Air Patrol to supplement Departmental air resources involved in border enforcement and other homeland security missions.

H.R. 1665, the Coast Guard Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, which eliminates massive cost overruns and potential future costs overruns for Coast Guard acquisitions.

H.R. 3619, the Coast Guard Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, which creates an acquisition directorate to provide guidance and oversight for Coast Guard acquisitions, the result of which will be cost savings.

Madam Speaker, the measures I have listed display the Committee on Homeland Security's commitment to advancing legislation that seeks to reduce the national deficit by promoting government efficiency while focusing on our primary mission of pursuing legislation that enhances the security of our nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3980, the Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act.

I would like to thank Representative Cuellar for introducing this legislation and my colleagues on the Committee on Homeland Security for helping to make this a truly bi-partisan effort.

For years, FEMA has struggled to establish a system for determining the effectiveness of the billions of dollars it gives to State, local, and tribal governments to help them prepare for natural disasters, acts of terrorism and other man-made disasters.

Such a system is essential to ensure that the taxpayers' money is being used wisely and effectively.

The Senate Amendment to H.R. 3980 would address this problem by requiring the FEMA Administrator to submit a plan to Congress for developing performance measures for its preparedness grants and streamlining the grant process by eliminating duplicative reporting requirements for grant recipients.

In October of 2009, the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response, then chaired by Mr. Cuellar of Texas, held an oversight hearing into whether FEMA had a plan in place for performance measures for the approximately $29 billion in homeland security grants it had provided the nation.

At that hearing, it became evident that FEMA had not yet developed an effective system for measuring the effectiveness of its grants and that in administering them, it unnecessarily burdened State, local, and tribal governments by requiring grant recipients to submit duplicative information.

On November 2, 2009, Mr. Cuellar translated the Committee's oversight findings into legislation--H.R. 3980.

Under this bill, FEMA is required to work with State, local, tribal and territorial stakeholders to develop a plan to:

Streamline homeland security grant reporting requirements, rules and regulations to eliminate redundant reporting;

Develop a strategy that includes a set timeline to provide much needed performance metrics for grant programs and ensure that the funds are going to the areas where they will be the most beneficial; and

Require an inventory of each homeland security grant program that incorporates the purpose, objectives and performance goals of each program.

The Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act would require FEMA to provide the Committee on Homeland Security with the plan required by the bill not later than 90 days after enactment of the bill.

This bill would also require biannual updates to maintain a careful and watchful eye on redundancies in the law that might hamper or confuse grant recipients.

The House unanimously passed H.R. 3980 on Dec. 2, 2009, and the Senate passed an amendment in the nature of a substitute for H.R. 3980 on September 22, 2010.

The Senate improved upon the House-passed bill by requiring FEMA to task the National Academy of Public Administration, NAPA, to study, develop and recommend performance measures for grants the Department of Homeland Security administers.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, NAPA is a congressionally-chartered nonprofit organization that has extensive experience working on performance measurement and they will provide valuable expertise to

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3980, the ``Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act.''

This legislation, introduced by Mr. Cuellar, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response, requires FEMA to assess the performance of its homeland security grant program and work towards addressing any identified deficiencies.

The legislation was developed based on finding from an October subcommittee hearing where FEMA testified as to the status of the agency's efforts to establish performance measurements for preparedness grants.

At the hearing, we learned that that FEMA's efforts to implement statutory performance metrics-related requirements are fragmented and poorly integrated. As a result, FEMA is unable to measure how the $29 billion in homeland security grants appropriated since 2002 have improved the nation's overall level of preparedness. Without these much needed performance metrics, FEMA continues to impose redundant grant reporting requirements on State and local governments including those in my home State of Mississippi.

Not only are these redundant reporting requirements costly and time- consuming for State and local officials to prepare, but there is significant evidence that, taken together, they still do not provide FEMA with information necessary to measure the return on investment from federal grants.

Although there have been some improvements in FEMA's administration of homeland security grants, such as the improvements in grant guidance and technical assistance provided to State and local applicants, we still have a ways to go.

H.R. 3980 would complement these efforts by directing FEMA to work with State and local stakeholders to identify and eliminate these redundant grant reporting requirements.

Specifically, H.R. 3980 would eliminate much of the red-tape and improve the performance of FEMA grant programs. The bill requires FEMA to develop a strategy, with timelines, to establish performance metrics for its homeland security grants and provides direction to complete a program assessment of its homeland security grants. These steps are designed to improve the agency's performance, productivity and accountability to the taxpayers. It will also provide Congress with better information on FEMA's performance to allow us to conduct more effective oversight and ensure that taxpayer money is being used efficiently and effectively.

Again, thank you for the consideration of this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 3980) to provide for identifying and eliminating redundant reporting requirements and developing meaningful performance metrics for homeland security preparedness grants, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

I rise in support of the motion to concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 3980, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I introduced H.R. 3980, the Redundancy Elimination Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act, because I believe that we need greater accountability for the $4 billion in grant funding provided annually by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

I want to thank Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member King of the committee, as well as Congresswoman Richardson and Congressman Rogers from Alabama, the chairman and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response, as well as my good friend, Senator Joe Lieberman, for the support in moving this bill, plus the staff who has worked very hard.

This bill passed unanimously, and I ask that we concur with the Senate amendment to H.R. 3980 that builds upon this legislation by directing FEMA to work with the National Academy of Public Administration to formulate performance measures for the grant programs.

This bill plus the amendment simply calls for greater accountability that we are able to measure and that we are able to see that we have results.

So I ask my colleagues to support this Senate amendment to H.R. 3980 and pass this piece of legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

This Senate amendment is an amendment that just adds accountability to the grant dollars, and I think it is important, just as the gentleman from Georgia. And I certainly want to thank my friend from Georgia, because we understand, just as Mr. Rogers, also, that we have got to make sure that we provide accountability. We are talking about $4 billion a year. We just have got to have accountability.

I urge all my colleagues to support this measure.

I yield back the balance of my time.